Identification of alternatively spliced messenger ribonucleic acid encoding truncated growth hormone-releasing hormone receptor in human pituitary adenomas.

The expression of GHRH receptor (GHRH-R) messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) was studied in 22 pituitary adenomas and 2 normal anterior pituitaries. Northern blot analysis revealed that GHRH-R mRNA were expressed in all 14 GH-producing adenomas, 1 of 3 ACTH-producing adenomas, the 1 PRL-producing adenoma, 2 of 4 nonfunctioning adenomas, and the 2 normal anterior pituitaries. Their expression levels varied among GH-producing adenomas and were relatively low in GH-nonproducing adenomas. In addition to the major transcript with a molecular mass of 2.0 kilobases (kb), the transcripts were identified at 2.8 and 4.5 kb in some GH-producing adenomas. To examine the structural variations in GHRH-R mRNA in pituitary adenomas, we amplified the complementary DNA fragment encompassing the region from the third cytoplasmic loop to the sixth transmembrane domain of GHRH-R. This region was selected because this region of the G protein-coupled receptor has been known to interact with G protein. Two amplified fragments with the molecular masses of 250 and 810 base pairs were identified by the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction method. The nucleotide sequence of a smaller fragment, which was the expected size, revealed that no mutations were found in this region in 10 GH-producing adenomas examined. However, a larger fragment contained the currently unidentified insertion. Compared with the genomic DNA sequence, this insertion was found to be generated through alternative splicing. In addition, this variant form contained the premature stop codon in-frame, indicating that it encodes the truncated GHRH-R. This insertion-specific probe could hybridize with 2.8- and 4.5-kb species of GHRH-R mRNA on Northern blot analysis, and these transcripts were expressed mainly in GH-producing adenomas. Finally, study of cell transfection and cAMP measurement revealed that this truncated GHRH-R was unable to transmit GHRH signals. These results suggest that some GH-producing adenomas preferentially express the truncated GHRH-R as a nonfunctioning receptor through alternative splicing.